Race is On to Save World's Third-Oldest Warship

 

In a historic Scottish port city, preservationists are mounting an urgent campaign to rescue the 200-year-old HMS Unicorn, one of the world's last surviving warships from the age of sail.

HMS Unicorn, the third oldest warship still afloat, has received a $1 million lifeline from Britain's National Lottery, jumpstarting an ambitious $12 million preservation project. But the clock is ticking for this maritime treasure.

"Unicorn is a symbol of Dundee's rich maritime history and without support may not survive," said Matthew Bellhouse Moran, executive director of the preservation society overseeing the vessel's restoration. "We urgently need the support of individuals, businesses, and organizations."

The Unicorn presents a unique window into naval history. Built in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, she never received her masts or rigging, instead serving her entire career as a naval training and depot ship. For much of the 20th century, she was home to reservists before retiring from naval service in the late 1960s.

Now a floating museum in Dundee's harbor, the ship requires extensive restoration work as part of a broader waterfront revitalization project. The preservation society faces an April deadline to raise an additional $820,000 to unlock the full $12 million in project funding.

The restoration plan calls for relocating the Unicorn to Dundee's East Graving Dock, where she would rest in a specially designed cradle. But significant work remains: the dock must be emptied and repaired, and a new caisson installed. The National Lottery has indicated the possibility of an additional $4 million grant later this year.

The Unicorn is surpassed in age only by HMS Trincomalee, now a museum in Hartlepool, England, and the USS Constitution in Boston.  

"This is a national treasure," Mr. Moran emphasized, noting the vessel's importance to British maritime heritage and to the local identity of Dundee, a city whose fortunes have long been tied to the sea.